Saturday, April 19, 2008

Fahreed's

I heard about Fahreed’s used bookstore only recently, though it’s been open since late 2006. It’s located in the Ntinda shopping complex on Old Kiira Road; a second, larger shop has apparently opened more recently in Nakawa, though I have yet to visit it. Like the Bookend, Fahreed’s also imports used books from England; unlike the Bookend, it does not buy books back. It has a larger selection of titles—thriller, chick lit, and general fiction is lumped into together, and there are also cookbooks, health and fitness books, textbooks, encyclopedias, children’s titles, as well as some old VHS movies. Hardcover fiction runs for Ush 10,000 and paperbacks for Ush 5,000. The setting is not as attractive as the Bookend, nor is as much care taken in displaying the titles. Fiction books are stacked three deep on the shelves, making two-thirds of the store’s stock very difficult to see. Be prepared to dig. Also, the titles did not appear to be arranged alphabetically by author when I was there, so again: be prepared to dig.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been to Fahreed's a couple of times and have managed to get a few good classic titles. My complaints about the store are exactly the same as yours and I have communicated as much to the owner, Sophie.

I'm trying to sell her the idea that I will help catalogue the books and arrange them for her if I can get ten titles for free. It's a tough sell because no one likes to give away freebees, but who knows what the future holds?

hannah said...

That seems like a pretty good deal to me. She should really take you up on it. It's not really a freebie if you're doing really good work for her that will lead to more sales...